





THE 




REPORT OF THE COUNCIL 




OK THE 








AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, 




MADE 




OCTOBER 21, 1875, AT WORCESTER, 




BY 




SAMUEL A. GREEN. M.D. 




WORCESTER: 




CHARLES HAMILTON, PRINTER, 




PALLADIUM OFFICE. 




1876. 






the 



REPORT OF THE COUNCIL 



AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, 



OCTOBER 21, 1875, AT WORCESTER, 



SAMUEL A. GREEN, M.D. 






WORCESTER : 
CHARLES HAMILTON, PRINTER, 

PALLADIUM OFFICE. 

1876. 



■^•3£5 



~4 



REPOltT OF THE COUNCIL. 



In accordance with a long custom, as authoritative as the 
By-Law which requires it, the Council of the American 
Antiquarian Society respectfully submit their semi-annual 
report, on its condition. They find it an agreeable duty to 
note the continued prosperity of the library. Its growth 
during the six months has been steady and satisfactory, and 
its use has been very generally extended to scholars and 
others, who have come hither — some from a long distance — 
to consult its books. The accession of pamphlets has been 
large, and while many of them are of no special rarity, 
some of them are of a good deal of value. It is impossible 
to say with truth that an ordinary pamphlet is worthless, 
for the time may come when its humble pages will fur- 
nish an obscure date that is wanted to fill a great gap. Or 
it may furnish a single fact that will fit in between two other 
facts, and the three will come together, like pieces of a 
puzzle, and be broad enough to establish a principle. Mr. 
Savage has said that he would give a hundred dollars a 
line for five lines about John Harvard. The time was when 
every incident in Harvard's life could have been given in 
detail, but it was not known then that he was to found a col- 
lege which was to spread out into a great university. Just 
such information as Mr. Savage Wanted is furnished every 



day in pamphlets, about some modest benefactor whose 
name may stand at some future period as John Harvard's 
does, but whom nobody cares for now. How valuable 
would be even a half-dozen lines about Shakspeare, such as 
might have been written by the most insignificant pam- 
phleteer of his age, — such as perhaps was written, but which, 
for the want of an Antiquarian Society, was lost to posterity. 
We have the authority of Milton that a wise man will make 
better use of an idle pamphlet than a fool will do of sacred 
Scripture. A hint in even an old almanac may put an author 
on the right track in following a subject. We find the trace 
where we little expect to find it. Nothing, according to a 
French proverb, is more probable than the improbable. 

The sure and safe way then is for an antiquarian library 
to collect anything and everything in the shape of a book, 
pamphlet, broadside or ballad, on the supposition that the 
time may come when it will pay to winnow the chaff to find 
the grain. This holds good particularly in a new country, 
where society is not wholly formed, — is somewhat transitory 
in its character, — -and its best reflection is found in the 
local literature. The habits of thought of a people are best 
shown in what comes from the printing-press. Everywhere, 
the demand regulates the supply ; and this is true of literary 
matters as of grosser materials. The train of public thought 
at the present time is sufficiently indicated by present publi- 
cations. Never before was printing used so much as now to 
scatter abroad individual opinions and new ideas in religion, 
morals, philosophy, political economy, and other questions 
that strike deep into the human mind. And in no other 
country is this means employed so much as in our own, 
because printing is cheap, the press free and reading general. 



To preserve this reflection of our age for future generations, 
these pamphlets are of great value and should be saved. 

The Council are glad to know that particular pains have 
been taken by Mr. Haven and Mr. Barton to collect local 
histories and historical addresses. Special efforts have been 
made now for several years to obtain such publications. 
These are usually printed in small editions and soon become 
scarce. The books of this class are added by the generosity 
of Judge Thomas, who provided means to buy for the 
library many volumes that were wanted for its shelves. It 
is difficult to overestimate the importance of an accurate 
town history. It deals with the first principles and the sim- 
plest form of political organization, which are the character- 
istic features of a town government. It goes back to the 
beginning;, and furnishes an abundance of the raw material 
to the general historian who comes afterwards and who 
views the subject from a broader stand-point. A town is 
fortunate, indeed, that has a local antiquary to write its 
history. The earlier such an undertaking is begun, the 
better, as the sources of information are, in part, the old 
inhabitants whose tenure of life is slender ; in part, private 
collections of letters and papers which are liable to be 
scattered and lost after the death of the owners. 

The Council take pleasure in calling the attention of the 

Society to the Indian relics displayed in the cabinets. Since 

the endowment ot the Feabody Museum, at Cambridge, the 

subject of American Archaeology has been studied with 

increased zeal, and a new impetus has been given to this 

branch of science. Anything connected with the North 

American Indians is deemed worthy of the study of the 

antiquary. The stone tools and weapons of the Aborigines 
2 



G 

— with the fragments of their pottery and the remains of 
their-shell heaps — furnish much that is known about the 
habits and customs of that unfortunate race. It is a singular 
fact that certain forms of domestic implements among them 
are nearly identical with those found among primitive peo- 
ple in other and distant parts of the world. The true 
explanation of this doubtless is that they are the simplest 
expression of human needs. Give to savage races a want, 
and they will find a common remedy if within their reach. 
Limited as is the language of these relics, they speak with 
unmistakable sound. Some of them tell of the skill re- 
quired to form them and of the cunning craftsmen that lived 
in those days. Others reveal that the material was brought 
in the rough from a distance, and then fashioned by the 
native artisans. The shell-heaps make known the character 
of their food, in part, with all the certainty of a bill of fare 
at the Parker House, and wild game was considered then as 
much of a luxury as now. The ornamentation on their 
pottery shows an artistical taste, an impulse towards the 
beautiful, which they themselves could neither explain nor 
understand. 

The report of the Librarian, which forms a part of the 
report of the Council, gives the accessions in detail, and 
makes such statements and suggestions as may seem proper. 
They show that the Library was never more useful than 
now, and that its friends keep it constantly in mind. The 
report of the Treasurer, also making a part of this report, 
shows a healthy condition of the funds. They are invested 
rather with a view to safety and security than to large 
dividends. 

It is the sad duty of the Council to note the deaths in the 



Society, of which five have occurred since the last meeting. 

Jean Frederic do Waldeck, who was chosen a member ot 
this Society October 23, 1S39, died in Paris, on the second 
of Mav last. He was distinguished not only as a traveller 
and an artist, hut also as having passed, by nearly a decade. 
the disputed boundary of the hundredth year of life. He 
was born March 1(5, 17GG, and at the time of his death 
had reached the remarkable age of 109 years, one month 
and 14 days. There seems to be no reasonable doubt about 
the date of his birth. He came from an ancient family of 
Prague, and from an early period of his life was engaged in 
labors that kept him in the world's eye. His case in this 
respect is unlike the instances of extreme old age so fre- 
quently reported in this country among the lower classes — 
notably among the blacks — where the absence of registra- 
tion of the time of birth gives the opportunity for extrava- 
gant reports which cannot be refuted. When only nineteen 
years of age he went with Levaillant to the Cape of Good 
Hope, in South Africa. On his return to Paris, in 1788, he 
began the study of art and worked under the direction of 
David and Prud'hon. This experience was afterwards of 
much service to him in his travels. 

In the year 1793 de Waldeck was present at the siege of 
Toulon, and in 1794 joined the army in Italy as a volunteer. 
In 1798 he followed the expedition into Egypt, not as a 
soldier, however, but as an observer. After the failure of 
Napoleon's designs in that region, de Waldeck determined to 
travel in Africa, and accordingly, he set out with four other 
adventurers on an expedition which was to traverse the con- 
tinent from north to south. Sickness, however, attacked the 
little party, and his four companions died, leaving him alone. 



He was able only to reach the Portuguese settlements on the 
coast after four months of danger and privation. In the 
year 1819 he visited Chili, and later made an archaeological 
expedition in Guatemala, and on his return established him- 
self in London. Here he was engaged in preparing the 
lithographic drawings which were to illustrate a work upon 
the ruins of Palenque and Chiapas. Thinking that the 
designs he had been employed to put on stone were incor- 
rect, he determined to visit the ruins for himself, which he 
did, and passed three years studying them in detail, and 
making maps of the region. On his return to Europe, after 
an absence of twelve years in the New World, he sold to 
the French government his drawings made in Palencpie, and 
their publication was begun in 1863. After his one 
hundredth year he himself made the lithographs for the work. 
Ten years ago two of his pictures attracted considerable 
attention, because he had put on the frame these words : 
" Recreations of a Centenarian" — an inscription that is 
beyond the reach of most artists. 

Mr. George Brinley, of Hartford, died on the sixteenth of 
last May, at Hamilton, Bermuda, whither he had gone in the 
hope to regain tailing health. He was born May 15, 1817, 
and at the time of his death was just 58 years of age. His 
father was George Brinley, of Boston, at one time a promi- 
nent merchant of that city, and his mother, Catharine Put- 
nam, was a granddaughter of General Israel Putnam. 
During a sojourn in Florida, more than a year ago, he con- 
tracted a malarial fever from which he never recovered. 

Mr. Brinley was a man of elegant tastes and a learned 
bibliographer, always ready to impart his knowledge to 
those who desired information. He devoted himself chiefly 



9 

to literary pursuits and had collected a remarkable library, 
particularly rich in books relating to early American histo- 
ry, and in those of early American imprint. It contains 
six fine copies of Eliot's Indian Bible. There are Imt few 
libraries in the country of equal value or of greater extent. 

Mr. Brinley was elected a member of this Society Octo- 
ber 23, 1846, and has at various periods made valuable gifts 
to the library. At the last annual meeting the Librarian's 
report contained an account of his generosity in having, at 
his expense, the Society's copy of the second edition of 
Eliot's Indian Bible pass through elaborate processes of 
reparation, completion and binding, in the establishment 
of Francis Bedford, of London. The honorary degree of 
A.M. was conferred upon him by Yale College, in 1868. 
He was president of the Trustees of the Wadsworth Library, 
and vice president of the Wadsworth Athenaeum, at the time 
of his death. For many years he was an active director in 
the Phoenix Bank, as well as one of the trustees in the State 
Savings Bank. 

The Honorable Edward Mellen, one of the oldest mem- 
bers of the Worcester bar, died at Wayland, May 24th. He 
was born in Westboro', September 26, 1802, graduated at 
Brown University in 1823, and was admitted to the bar in 
Middlesex County, in 1828. He opened an office in East 
Cambridge, where he continued to practise until the autumn 
of 1830, when he removed to Wayland. Here he remained, 
practising chiefly in the Courts of Middlesex County until 
1817, when he was appointed, by Governor Briggs, a justice 
of the Court of Common Pleas. Seven years later he was 
made, by Governor Washburn, Chief Justice of the same 
Court, which position he held until 1859, when the Court 



10 

was abolished and the Superior Court established in its 
stead. On retiring from the bench, Judge Mellen opened 
an office in Worcester and continued to practise until the 
infirmities of age rendered it impossible for him to attend to 
professional labor. For several years after this he remained 
at his home in Wayland, gradually failing in health and 
strength, until at last paralysis ended his life. He was an 
industrious lawyer and an upright judge. His reading and 
information, beyond the limits of his profession, were exten- 
sive and accurate. He became a member of this Society 
October 22, 1860, and from 1861 to 1865, was its Recording 
Secretary. For several years he was one of the trustees of 
Brown University. The Doctorate of Laws was conferred 
upon him by his Alma Mater in 1854. 

The Reverend Charles Wentworth Upham died June 15, 
at Salem. He was the son of Joshua Upham, of Brookfield, 
Massachusetts, and was born in the city of St. John, New 
Brunswick, May 4, 1802. His father was a descendant of 
an old colonial family and a graduate of Harvard in the 
• •lass of 1763, — a class-mate, room-mate and life-long friend 
of the Honorable Timothy Pickering, — whose life was after- 
wards completed by the subject of this notice. During the 
Revolutionary War the father incurred the displeasure of the 
Whigs, and on that account was compelled to leave his 
home. He went to New Brunswick, where he was made a 
judge of the Supreme Court and a member of the council. 
His son Charles entered college at Cambridge, in 1817, and 
graduated in due course, taking high rank among his class- 
mates, of whom many became distinguished men in different 
parts of the country. Passing through the usual course of 
theological study at the Divinity School, he was invited soon 



11 

after to become the associate pastor of the First Church m 
Salem, with the Reverend John Prince. At that period, 
the old fires of sectarian strife were still raging, and Mr. 
Upham was thoroughly imbued with the controversial spirit 
of the day. Here he remained until December 8, 1811, 
when he was obliged to resign, on account of an affection 
of the throat. He afterwards devoted himself to literary 
labors, and ultimately became prominent in political affairs. 
At one time he edited the Christian Review, and at another 
the Christian Register, besides contributing to the North 
American Review and other publications of high character. 
He delivered orations, eulogies and addresses, on public 
occasions, many of which have been printed. 

Air. Upham took an active part in the political canvass of 
1848, advocating the claims of General Taylor; he was 
Mayor of Salem in 1852 ; a State Representative and Senator 
for several years, and for two years was the presiding officer 
of the Senate ; a member of the 33d Congress of the Na- 
tional .House of Representatives, a member of the State 
Constitutional Convention, in 1853, besides holding other 
public positions, all which he filled with dignity and honor. 
lie was chosen a member of this Society October 21, 1855. 

Among his writings are these: "Letters on the Logos," 
published in 182S; "Lectures on Witchcraft," 1831; "Life 
of Sir Henry Yane," for Sparks's American Biography, 
1835; "Life of John C. Fremont," 1856; and "Salem 
Witchcraft," in two volumes, 1867. He wrote a memoir of 
the Reverend John Prince, which is in the Collections of the 
Massachusetts Historical Societ} 7 , and other memoirs for 
"The National Portrait Gallery." The "Life of Timothy 
Pickering " was his latest work of magnitude. 



12 

He also wrote a Life of George Washington, in the form 
of an autobiography, which was printed in 1840. The pub- 
lication of this work gave rise to litigation, as it was consid- 
ered an infringement of the copyright held by Mr. Sparks, 
and the author and publishers were restrained by injunction 
from making it public. The stereot} 7 pe plates, however, had 
been cast and a few impressions struck off, without the 
knowledge of Mr. Upham. The writer of this report 
remembers showing him, six years ago, a copy of this 
edition, bearing the imprint of Boston, which was the first 
time he had ever seen one, and he so wrote on the fly-leaf 
of one of the volumes. The plates were afterwards taken 
to England, where an edition of the work was published. 

Professor Increase Allen Lapham, of Milwaukee, died 
suddenly September 14. He was born at Palmyra, New 
York, March 7, 1811, and was chosen a member of this 
Society April 27, 1853. At one time he was a civil en- 
gineer, employed on the Welland canal, and afterwards on 
the canal around the falls of the Ohio, at Louisville, Ken- 
tucky. He was, from 1833 to 1835, secretary of the Ohio 
Board of Canal Commissioners, and in 1838 he removed to 
Milwaukee, where lie lived until the time of his death. In 
1862 he was chosen president of the Wisconsin Historical 
Society, and in 1873 was appointed State Geologist and 
began making a thorough geological and topographical sur- 
vey of the State. At one time he was president of the Old 
Settlers' Club, of Milwaukee county. 

He was a prolific writer, having been a frequent contribu- 
tor to scientific journals and other publications. Among his 
productions are, "Wisconsin, its Geography, Topography, 
History, Geology and Mineralogy," which passed through 



two editions; "Geological Map of Wisconsin, 1 ' and "An- 
tiquities of Wisconsin." He was a hard worker and a dili- 
gent scholar. In 1860 Amherst College conferred upon 
him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. 

It was a common custom of his to get into a boat and pull 
off for a few hours' fishing in Oconomowoc lake. Usually 
there was some one with him, but on the afternoon of Tues- 
day, September 14, he went alone, and in the early evening 
he was found in the bottom of the boat, lying lifeless upon 
his face, his hand tightly clutching one of the oars. He had 
suffered for some years from an affection of the heart, and 
this was the probable cause of his death. 

The appearance of a fourth volume of the History of New 
England, by a member of this Society, is an event of suf- 
ficient importance in the literary history of the country to be 
mentioned in this report. The volume treats of an im- 
portant period, extending from the expulsion of Sir Edmund 
Andros to the removal of Governor Belcher by the British 
Government, in 1711. This includes the witchcraft tragedy 
and the administration of Joseph Dudley. The work shows 
in every page the thoroughness of research, the accuracy of 
statement and the elegance of style that are found only in 
the writings of the most accomplished historians. The 
scholars of the country will await with eager anticipation 
the fifth and last volume, which will complete the provincial 
history of New England. 

There is a tendency in the human mind to divide time into 
round periods, and with the average man there is a fasci- 
nation about a century which does not belong to other divisions 
of time. It is a sentiment not wholly destitute of reason. 
In our decimal notation the number ten plays an important 



3 



14 

part and is a kind of unit. Etymologically it is connected 
with the fingers of the hand, and a hundred, etymologically 
as well as numerically ten tens, is a large unit, a natural 
division of duration. Some thousands of years ago, and yet 
a million of years removed from the period of the man- 
monkey, to our rude Sanskrit or Aryan speaking ancestor, 
ten of his companions ranged in a line, each with all the 
fingers outstretched, may have vividly represented the primi- 
tive meaning of dakan-dakanta — ten tens, — tihun-tihund, 
lmnd, hundred, hundare, centuria, century. This is a space 
of time so long that it is very rarely covered by a human 
life — so long that the recollection of not one human being 
in a million goes back to its beginning. It is so far back in 
the past that the events are sufficiently shrouded in obscurity 
to be favorable for the use of the imagination. And yet this 
great unit of time is so short that we all have talked with 
those — our grandsires perhaps — who lived one hundred 
years ago — so short that we are still interested in the deeds, 
and sympathize with the actors, of that time. 

Recoo-nizino; then this sentiment, we come to the fact that 
it is now a century since the war of the Revolution began. 
It is true that the causes which led to it were smouldering 
for many years before 1775, but it was not until then that 
they burst forth into flames and fired the public mind. It 
was then that the first general resistance was made to the 
power with which successful rebellion had never grappled. 
It was then that the first battles were fought in the war that 
created the United States of America. It is impossible to 
have now a clear understanding of the feelings of hope and 
doubt and despair that agitated the hearts of the men 
and women of that time. It is enough to know that the 



men contended with the enemy in the field and that the 
women struggled with hardships at home. And it is highly 
fit now that these deeds should he commemorated anew by 
ceremony and speech. In this way public attention is called 
to the merits and virtues of the men of that period, and 
while this will not affect them, it may he of service to us. It, 
was eminently proper, therefore, that the one hundredth anni- 
versary of the battle of Bunker Hill, which has occurred since 
the last meeting of the Society, should he noted in a marked 
manner. The orator of the day was distinguished by his 
services in peace and in war, and was himself a descendant 
of one of the heroes of the Battle. His felicitous effort was 
not the least part of the success that attended the celeb ra- 
tion. From the wide-spread enthusiasm excited by the affair 
throughout the country we foresee that the national cen- 
tennial celebration of next year will prove all that its most 
ardent friends desire. We shall have the material interests 
of the country shown to the world on a vaster scale than has 
ever before been exhibited. Such periodical displays mark 
from time to time, the progress in the different departments 
of labor. The development of the agricultural and me- 
chanical industries, during the last few years even, would 
astonish those not familiar with the tacts. New trades have 
sprung up and others have been developed, in what was 
lately the wilderness, furnishing employment to thousands 
of workmen who have made the forests give way to towns 
and cities. Railways radiating from hives of human indus- 
try and intersecting with other centres of business, have 
been built to exchange the products of labor. The loco- 
motive traverses, daily, vast plains hardly yet relinquished by 
herds of buffaloes. Mountains have been scaled and pierced. 



16 

which until now have stood as impassable barriers. It is not 
necessary to go back a hundred years to note the contrast, 
for we ourselves see it, — magna pars fuimus. Much as 
preceding generations have bequeathed to us, the present 
age has done its share for the material interests of posterity. 
The electric telegraph, an invention of our times, practi- 
cally annihilating space in the sending of messages, has 
worked wonders in science and in the more practical affairs 
of life. By means of it the words of Puck become a reality 
when he says : 

I'll put a girdle round about the Earth 
Iu forty minutes. 

If the ocean telegraph had been in operation at that time, 
the battle of New Orleans, in 1815, would not have been 
fought. It occurred a fortnight after the treaty of peace 
had been signed at Ghent, though the tidings of this treaty 
were not received until a month after the battle. The 
chances are that Andrew Jackson would not have been 
president of the United States if lie had not gained that 
battle, nor would Martin Van Buren have succeeded to the 
same high position if he had not been associated with him. 
This will serve as an illustration of the influence the tele- 
graph may have on human affairs. 

The many inventions for saving labor originate in this 
modern spirit of advance and improvement. Mills are run 
by intricate and ingenious machinery that can do almost 
anything but think and talk. And there is a class of in- 
ventions so domestic in their character that they seem almost 
like members of the family. The sewing-machine, of which 
there are so many varieties, is in daily use throughout the 



17 

country. In a single hour it will do the work which a pair 
of hands cannot do in a whole day. The effect of these 
labor-saving machines is to give somebody more leisure or 
more time for other work. Whatever increases the power 
of labor cheapens the product, and adds to human comfort 
and enjoyment. 

The genius of invention and discovery will not rest here, 
but will continue through the second century of our national 
existence. There will be new principles established and new 
applications of old principles, and those who witness the 
bi-centennial celebration of our country will look back on 
us very much as we look back on those who founded our 
government. It fell to them to contend with a foreign 
enemy, but it falls to us to deal with one that is domestic 
and not confined to any section. The great danger now is 
the lack of honesty in private and official life. This comes 
from the haste to get rich on the part of avaricious men, the 
large fortunes made by contracts with the government during 
the Rebellion serving as evil examples. Other causes 
favor this condition of things, but these are the main ones. 
There have been of late some startling instances of dis- 
honesty all over the land, and the country appears to be 
passing through an epidemic of crime. In its character it 
may be a condition incident to the peculiar and exceptional 
circumstances of the last fifteen years. If so, one may 
regard it as an infantile disease like measles or chicken-pox, 
which the nation is having in its youth. It should be 
remembered that centuries are to a people what a few years 
are to an individual. During the reign of William III. there 
seems to have been a similar state of affairs in England. 
Macaulay says that " the peculation and venality by which 



18 

the official men of that age were in the habit of enriching 
themselves had excited in the public mind a feeling such as 
could not but vent itself, sooner or later, in some formidable 
explosion." And lie tells how the City of London and the 
East India Company, the two wealthiest corporations in the 
Kingdom, had been largely employed for the purpose of 
corrupting great men, and how public money, issued from 
the Exchequer for a special purpose, had been diverted into 
the pockets of peculators. And how money had been re- 
turned to the giver when detection was near, how large 
sums had mysteriously disappeared and could not be traced. 
The student of the history of England in the years 1694-95 
will recognize the exact counterpart of these transactions in 
this country and in this very day. The newspapers tell us 
of Credit Mobilier, of Pacific Mail subsidies, of embezzle- 
ments in building and repairing court houses, state houses 
and post offices, of canal jobs, and frauds in the Indian sup- 
plies. The story of infamy sounds like a twice-told tale. 
From this disgraceful disease we also shall recover ; it is 
not a symptom of incurable national decay and corruption. 
At the centennial exhibition the progress in the different 
brandies of our industry will be clearly set forth. The 
strides that have been taken onward are both rapid and 
long. The manufactories of the East, the plantations of the 
South, the large farms of the West and the mines of the 
still farther West will all be represented. The people of 
these sections will come together and profit by the associa- 
tion. But the lesson of the hour will not be learned unless 
it tends to heal old troubles and past differences. It will be 
found out that there is good in all and that none are all 
good. A better acquaintance with one another will promote 



19 

better opinions of one another. Every one will see some- 
thing in his neighbor to commend, and perhaps something in 
himself to correct. 

For the Council, 

SAMUEL A. GREEN. 



011 411 611 7 



